Megrahi release puts Anglo-Libyan trade ties back on track

THE release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi removes the sharpest thorn in Britain’s relations with Libya and boosts the prospects for British companies there.

Yet a rush of deals is unlikely as the north African country’s murky business environment and creaking bureaucracy make it an uphill struggle for all foreign firms, analysts say.

Libya is emerging from isolation after it scrapped a banned weapons programme and paid compensation for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie.